To me, Life Sentences was a strong 4 star book bogged down by trappings that didn't work for me.

I really liked that plot and the main character.

The mystery was interesting and (mostly) well plotted and revealed. The question is whether Cassandra's childhood friend Calliope really killed her child, and if so, why?

I've read several books recently featuring writers as characters, and I've been enjoying them. Cassandra is no exception. I enjoyed her reflections on her past, present and future and how they interrelate. Her approach to investigation also worked well for me in the story.

The other characters were overall a neutral for me. They were at times compelling and at others overdrawn. In general they didn't pull me out the story, and so I can forgive them many flaws.

The problems I had with the book had to do with the delivery. It felt to me there was an effort to be Literary, and it distracted from the story.

A prime example of this was the wandering point of view. When done well, I like when I'm shown what different characters are thinking and feeling about the events in a book. I did like that aspect of this book, although I sometimes had to pull myself out of the story to figure out who a particular chapter was focusing on.

What I didn't get were the shifts between first and third person. I'm left with the feeling that I should go back and figure out why the POV shifted when it did, and what it meant. When reading, I found it distracted me from the story.